Lights and Sounds
by shirozora
Summary: [Crack] It could be my fault Castle Oblivion happened the way it did. I told the Superior that my mission failed, easy as it was. After all, Naminé erased the truth. [Part 3 of 3][Fin]
1. Mission Impossible

**Author's Note:** I lied. I said this was a oneshot but it was 'long' for a oneshot, and it split into threes perfectly. I lied, I lied. Sue me. Heh, joking. This is a story I promised on my MSN messenger and my bio page, along with some other…interesting little stories and a huge remix project of my bigger works. Yup, I'm busy. And my summer's just begun. So I hope you enjoy this story. My betas certainly did.

**Copyrights**: Characters, settings, and back story belong to Square-Enix and Disney. This itty-bitty mini-storyline is mine. The title isn't, if my information's right. Has nothing to do with the song.

**Disclaimer**: It could be my fault Castle Oblivion happened the way it did. I told the Superior that my mission failed, easy as it was. After all, Naminé erased the truth.

**Lights and Sounds**

**1 – Mission Impossible**

His orders were explicit and very simple. He knew it wouldn't be hard following them. In fact, it was his belief that this could be the easiest mission ever assigned to any member of the Organization.

_Convince the Princess of Heart to follow you out of her world. Then take her to Castle Oblivion, where we'll use her to manipulate the Keyblade Wielder when he comes. If this proves utterly impossible, then abandon plans and return. We can deal with the Keyblade Wielder without her if we have to._

He looked down at the paper one more time, scanned the very professional writing, and felt the need to commend Vexen for actually taking the time to type out orders that could have been scribbled out in pen.

_Can't believe you have the time to do that sort of thing…_

He crinkled his nose as a fresh blast of air brought to him the scent of salt. He's already decided he didn't like the ocean but he couldn't avoid it, not if he was to do his job and do the best he can finding and taking the Princess of Heart with him back to Castle Oblivion.

_Why couldn't they have used the boy to bring her to Castle Oblivion? The two are nearly alike; it would be so easy to convince her. But no, that bastard had to run off looking for the Keyblade Wielder himself and he's dumped the task on me, on me! Well then…_

Zexion folded up the paper and pocketed it. He looked around, narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied the landscape. His left eye, free of his blue hair, took in the flatness of the waves, the faint silhouettes of the offshore islands, and encoded them in his memory. Remembering how Destiny Island's shores looked like would be very important to their cause later on, he knew. Being able to recreate Destiny Island could be a useful tool indeed.

He turned towards the houses up ahead. All the lights were out; it was peacefully quiet. It was night, after all. Zexion sighed, then closed his eyes and sniffed the air. He frowned at the blast of salt and sand, then sniffed again. Through the cold and the salt he caught the faint traces of people. He could smell the sweat of people crisscrossing all over the beaches and realized he was in for one hell of a mission after all.

How was he supposed to find the Princess of Heart this way? Nobody back up at Castle Oblivion had a clear idea of how she looked like. The one they were relying on to make the plans work, Naminé, had said she was going to need the boy's memory in order to give them a good idea of how the Princess of Heart was going to look like. That wasn't all that helpful and it took the Superior's orders to keep him from lashing out at her in frustration. Zexion was being forced to hunt down someone he had no idea looked like.

_I could be using this time to do something more important_, he thought crossly as he took several steps forward smelling the air. All he got was sweat, then he started picking up sickly sweet aromas and the heavy musky smells of what seemed to be dogs. Perfumes and dogs. His mind was being muddled over.

A few more steps and at the very edge of the beach he picked up a new scent. He sniffed twice, then gasped and took a step back. He had no idea what it was but it was utterly overpowering. He didn't know how to describe it – it wasn't salty or sweet or heady or musky or sickly – but it practically glowed amongst all the other smells. And it was headed straight up a street, up the hill and deep into the quiet town.

Zexion sighed. He was really in for it now.

**Author's Endnote:** Um…two pieces of advice. One, Naminé doesn't do much. Two, I like crack.


	2. Dreamworld and Tough Guise

**Author's Note:** Happy Fourth of July for all you Americans!

**Copyrights**: Characters, settings, and back story belong to Square-Enix and Disney. This itty-bitty mini-storyline is mine. The title isn't, if my information's right. Has nothing to do with the song. And it's good to have the laptop back. That has nothing to do with the three-shot.

**Disclaimer:** It could be my fault Castle Oblivion happened the way it did. I told the Superior that my mission failed, easy as it was. After all, Naminé erased the truth.

**Lights and Sounds**

**2 – Dreamworld and Tough Guise**

Teleportation was a useful tool, Zexion decided, as he transported himself from outside a very impressive-looking home to the inside. He stepped out into the middle of a dark hallway with a wood-paneled floor. He looked around, his visible eye piercing through the darkness and trying to see where he was. From the way it seems, with the moon streaming in through the various windows scattered around the walls, he was on the second floor. He looked around, peered at the various picture frames hanging on the walls. There were huge plant pots scattered around and he took note of their positions; he didn't want to make a mistake by running into one of them and making noise. He could hear breathing and knew people were inside the house this night.

He took a step in the direction of the least breathing. It was logical, since he was looking for only one person. And the smell, that strange smell, was reeking out of one area. He took another step towards it, then another. The floor didn't make any odd noise as he silently followed the trail to a white door. It was closed and Zexion, not knowing what was beyond it, decided not to risk teleporting himself behind it. He settled on the old-fashioned method of turning the doorknob and opening the door very slowly. If the hinges creaked, it was not good. He didn't want to compromise himself on this. He was Zexion, after all.

He was peering into a room. There was a desk and chair against one wall, a four-poster bed in front of him, and a huge window with curtains built into the other wall. There was a closet next to the desk and a handbag lying in front of it. There was a book shelf above the desk lined with a few texts and what looked like picture frames. So did the book shelves on the opposing wall. Underneath was a small table and a chair.

There were picture frames on the wall and Zexion craned his neck over to get a better view of them. One of them immediately caught his eye and he narrowed his gaze to better focus in this darkness. He was able to pick out three young people in the picture. One immediately demanded of his attention and he looked at the lone female in the image, one with vibrant red hair and smiling blue eyes. She was between two boys, one with silver hair and the other with brown spikes. Zexion had a vague idea of what the Keyblade Wielder looked like and immediately made the connection between the boy in the frame and the one out there headed towards Castle Oblivion. The girl in the frame, the girl he knew who must be occupying this room, was a friend of the Wielder.

Zexion had found the Princess of Heart.

_Brilliant. Now what?_

Zexion had been very un-Zexion by not planning the next step. He didn't even expect himself to find the Princess of Heart so quickly and now here he was, standing in her room trying to figure out the best way to kidnap her while she slept just a few feet away from her.

_Oh I had better plan out a good one if I'm gonna get this to work…_

He took a step towards the bed and winced as a floorboard underneath his foot retaliated to the pressure with a loud, grating noise. That brought a stirring from the bed as something shifted, moved under the blankets. His visible eye fixed on the movement, felt something twist in him. There was something…strangely…_erotic_…in the way the person in the bed moved. He shook his head, let the blue hair sway in his vision as he took another step closer. To his horror, the next floorboard practically screamed. Zexion swore loudly, then clamped his mouth shut and smothered it with his hand as the person in bed sat straight up.

_Zexion, you're doomed._

Quickly he waved a hand, concentrated on the image he had of Sora the young Keyblade Wielder in his head. The air shimmered in the inches before his nose and he knew the magic worked.

But then he saw the girl sitting up in the bed, looking around in the darkness frantically, and he froze again. His breath left his lungs; his visible eye swallowed in the image before him, the girl they called the Princess of Heart, and he was stunned, not at her appearance, but at his response. He had no idea what magic she had cast on him. He now could only hope she didn't have more magic in store up her sleeves. If she had sleeves in the first place; the shirt she was wearing lacked them.

And then her vibrant, living blue eyes turned on him and she stared. Zexion shook under the harsh scrutiny.

"Who…who…Sora?" The guise worked. "Sora…Sora, is that you?"

"I hope so," Zexion blurted out before he could stop himself. "Do I look like him?"

_Shit._

"Wait…what?" she said, her voice exuding utter confusion. She stared at him hard, then tipped her head to the side. Her hair, which couldn't seem to decide whether to fall to the right or the left, swayed to the right side of her face. Her hair, which was brushing her shoulders, was wild and tangled. Her whole complexion seemed blurry.

"I…shoot…" Now the words were just tumbling out of his mouth. He couldn't stop himself from giving himself away.

"You're not Sora, are you?" the girl finally decided, sitting up a little straighter. She rubbed her eyes, then blinked several times. "If you're not Sora…why do you look like him?"

"I do-oh…" Zexion suddenly remembered his magic and muttered. "Can you look elsewhere please? Just for a moment."

She stared at him weird, but then slowly, and with much skepticism, said, "Okay…sure, if that's what you want…"

Once he was satisfied she wasn't going to be looking at him, Zexion waved a hand over himself again and the air shimmered once more. Zexion sighed, then eased his feet back and in the direction of the chair next to the small table. He slowly sat down, then looked at the girl. She still wasn't looking.

"You can look now," he said quietly.

_Well, there goes my mission. Now what am I going to tell the Superior and the others? Should I say something? Should I say nothing? Nothing…that's easy to do. Nothing at all…_

"I knew it," he heard her say. "You're not Sora. Who are you? What are you doing in my room looking like Sora?"

Zexion bit his lip and looked elsewhere. "I…I don't know. Did I look like…Sora?"

The girl pushed away the blankets, slid out of bed. Zexion couldn't believe his eyes, which were staring at her slim figure. Not only did her shirt not have sleeves, her pants were short, horridly short. How could anyone walk around in them?

The girl blinked at him, then shook her head slightly and opened her eyes wide. "Your hair's blue."

"Uh…yes it is," Zexion agreed, wondering at the retarded comment. He looked at her, wasn't sure whether to squirm or stare back. "Anything else you'd like to add?"

"Yeah," she said. She walked up to him and bent over, until they were eye to eye. "Who are you?"

"Me?" Zexion asked.

"Are you really that retarded, whoever you are?" What bothered him even more than the ridicule so apparent in her voice was the mocking laughter brimming in her eyes. She had to be making fun of him. But then she went to the table next to the chair and leaned against it. She turned her eyes to him, then repeated her question.

"How about I remain anonymous, and we leave it that way?" Zexion suggested. He shifted in his seat, pressed away from her. He felt uncomfortable with her so close. She radiated something powerful, magnetic, which was why he tried to stay as far away from her as possible without looking obvious.

_Her heart. It must be her heart. What else could explain this? I…I can feel it. So…so strange. Damn it, why did I get assigned to this mission? Why couldn't Axel do it? He'd get it over with in seconds; he'd just drag the damn girl all the way to Castle Oblivion kicking and screaming, and this is what I do, sitting around talking to her and obviously making a fool out of myself-wait…am I?_

"Am I a fool?" he muttered, so sunk in his thoughts that he forgot there were other ears.

"If you say so." Something touched his head, again and again, and he ducked away, looked up at her with a scowl. She was smiling and she was touching his head, more like patting the top of it. "I like your hair. It's blue."

"Yes, I've heard you say the first time around. Would you-quit it-ow!"

Something was plucked off of his scalp and while he rubbed at the offending spot, the girl held out a short strand of hair. She moved her hand into a beam of moonlight and stared at it. Then her finger and thumb sprang apart and he watched as a former part of his head drifted down into obscurity, lost forever.

"You know, that was completely uncalled for," he said stiffly when she looked at him. "I didn't ask to have my head attacked."

"I just wanted to see if your hair really is blue."

"Oh come on you said it yourself three times now. My hair is blue; I didn't do anything to it. You should see some of the people I work with. A ton of them have purplish silver hair and one looks like his head's on fire."

"Oh, so there's more of you? Wait…work with? Who are you?"

_Shit. Brilliant, Zexion. You. Are. Doomed._

"I…they're just people. Just…random…regular people…"

_We're the Non-Existent Ones and we need to borrow your good friend the Keyblade Wielder so we can become whole._

"That still doesn't answer my question. Realize I've asked this several times already and each time you've dodged it?" She got off the table and turned to him. The girl bent over, looked at him square in the face. He leaned back instinctively but that did him no good. She merely leaned closer and dared him, just _dared_ him to tell her the truth. She had him cornered and she knew it.

Well, time to lie.

"I…oh can we just leave it at Anonymous and be done with that?" he begged, suddenly feeling threatened.

"Obviously, no. You do realize that you are in my room, this late at night, and without my permission. How'd you get in here anyways?"

"That's a long story. Let's just say I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. No seriously, I swear it's true. I was supposed to be somewhere else doing something else-"

"Looking like Sora? No, I think you're here because you know I know the person you just tried to impersonate. What was the point of that, by the way? What were you trying to accomplish?"

"Ugh…look, let's just say this is all just a big terrible mistake and I'm really sorry for what I just did to you and let's all pretend this was all a dream. Would that work for you?"

"A dream?" she asked as she started chewing on her bottom lip. Her eyes, lit by the moonlight streaming into her room, glimmered unnaturally. She looked…alien. Entrancingly alien. Something deep and dark pooled in the eyes. A darkness he knew well. But how could this be? This was a Princess of Heart; there were no traces of darkness within her.

"Then is this all a dream?" she whispered. The way her voice carried in the stillness unnerved him. Zexion was desperate to push her away but he was far too frightened to lay a finger on her. She had him chained to the chair. No, not chained – she had caught him but something about her pulled him to her. He leaned forward, to her, his one visible eye fixed on hers. At that moment, he wished his other eye was free of his hair, free to see her whole face. To see the way the moonlight played with the bluish shadows across her face, light up somewhere in her deep eyes and stir up an eerie darkness that hung before him, beckoned him forward.

Footsteps ended the thoughts. She gasped, turned towards the white door, noticed it was slightly ajar. He followed her gaze, realized someone else in the house had been aroused and on the move.

"Oh my god," she whispered, whipping her head back to him. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Get back to bed," he hissed. "Pretend you're asleep. I'll deal with that."

"Oh really-"

"Do it. Trust me."

He had never expected himself to use those words. He couldn't imagine any member of the Organization to use those words. And he had just gone and blurted it out to her, whispered it to her like this whole meeting between them was secret and forbidden.

Perhaps it was. Zexion knew who he was, after all.

_If they get wind of this, I'll never hear the end of it._

He pulled out of his thoughts just in time to see the girl dive back into her bed. The footsteps were drawing ever closer. Zexion looked towards the Princess of Heart briefly, saw she had buried herself entirely in those blankets of hers. She would never see it happen.

He waved a hand and something black and smoking poured into the room from nothingness. The footsteps were getting louder but they worried him none. Zexion looked at the girl one more time, then stepped into and through the hazy black.

The blast of brine in his nose stopped Zexion short as he stepped onto the beach and he coughed once, twice, three times. Cursing his sharp nose, he sought to block out its useful functions and quickly glanced around. There was a faint glow in the far horizon across the sea, far, far away. The sun was rising. The dark was receding and Zexion didn't quite like it. The night was his friend. Why else would he cling to the overcast basements of Castle Oblivion?

"Damn it all," he sighed as he sat down on the sand. It was cold but his coat blocked out most of the chill. But deep inside him the cold remained, sloshing like the ocean he resented so much. It churned, made the world appear to tilt. He blinked, then shook his head, let his long blue hair sway before his face.

Who was she? Who was this Princess? What power did she have? Was this the reason why she had been sent to Destiny Island long ago? Did she hold some power the other Princess of Hearts didn't have?

Zexion presently stood and began to pace, kicking at the sand as he went. She bothered him. She nagged at him, tugged at him. She wasn't some goal of a mission, some object to be dragged back to the castle to be manipulated by the Organization. She was an obstacle. She was standing between him and his mission.

Zexion came here to take her away and make subjugation of Sora a bit easier. But meeting her face to face, he realized how difficult his task was going to be. And it was nothing physical.

He hated to admit it but she was doing something to him.

xxx

What shocked him was that it didn't take long for her to find him. It must have been at least an hour after daybreak and he had been napping, against his better judgment. He didn't know why he didn't return to the castle to deliver his verdict: Given the circumstances and despite his gifts for darkness and deceit, he couldn't convince the Princess to follow him.

In fact, he had no will to. He had sat there, watching and waiting for the sun to peek over the salty sea, and suddenly he was being prodded in the side. Zexion groaned, opened his eyes, and found himself staring at bright morning sky. He tilted his head a bit and saw the Princess watching with an amused smile on her face. She was nudging him with the toe end of her shoe.

He quickly sat up as she knelt down next to him. He stared at her, his mind gearing up and running with the surprise wake up call. She looked at him serenely, though the amusement hung in her eyes. In the morning light they were blazing like the sea.

"So how'd you do that?" she asked.

"Do…do what?" he echoed, fond he was a bit slow in speech.

"Take yourself out of my room like you were never there? The Mayor thought I was talking in my sleep."

"I…"

"Well obviously you can do magic. Isn't that how you got yourself to look like Sora? I bet that's how you got into my room, too. Exactly what can you do?"

"Would you like to know?" he heard himself offer. She was a curious one, curious and quick of mind. Perhaps it was her experiences; normal people, he presumed, didn't come to conclusions the way she did.

He decided to indulge in her appearance while she thought out an answer. Her hair swayed at her shoulders and she continuously brushed her bangs to her right; they kept falling to the left side of her face. Her hair was a vibrant, disturbing red; it wasn't violent like Axel's shock of hair but it was disturbing enough to make his stomach churn.

What was she wearing? He thought that the clothes she was wearing last night was appalling enough but he found no words for what she had put upon herself now. She was wearing a dress, he could surmise as much, but this short? The dress ended halfway up her thighs; the exposure of leg was quite a bit too much for him. And it was pink. Zexion didn't like pink. Cinched around her waist was a black belt and dangling from her left side was a black pouch, perhaps compensating for the lack of pockets on her dress. His _coat_ had pockets and it was way longer than her dress. And to top it off, the only thing he wore underneath it were pants.

But the zippers, there were too many of them, three running the full length of her dress. The one in the middle wasn't pulled up all the way, and he noted that perhaps this was to accent the slight curves to her body. And then there was the hood. He liked to think his hood offered more protection from the elements than this bizarre attire of hers. And what was with her shoes? She didn't even settle for simple boots; these _pink_ shoes had lacing that wrapped around the lower part of her legs, under her calves, and tied themselves into bows. He resisted the urge to cringe.

"Um…why are you staring at me?" she asked. She hadn't even answered his question concerning his 'magic'.

Zexion's eyes quickly met hers and he felt…embarrassed that she noticed his scrutiny of her outfit. At least…he hoped that was what she thought.

"I…I was wondering at what you were wearing," he explained as nonchalantly as possible. "Most of the people I work with…don't wear what you're wearing right now."

"Do they wear what you're wearing?"

Maybe if he said 'Yes', that would disturb her. Maybe it would disturb anyone who didn't understand the Organization.

"Depends on the weather," he said, opting for the best and most logical answer for a human mind.

"Hm…I see," she said.

He waited for her to add something to that statement but when she didn't, he looked at her sharply. Zexion didn't like the silence; it unnerved him. It made him feel…vulnerable. Naked. He shifted in the sand as their eyes locked and remained chained together. Her eyes seemed to froth and foam, and he thought he could see the sea in them, a glorious sea without the acrid salty smell. It was calling to him; he could feel it tugging at something inside him. Perhaps it was his soul; his heart wasn't there to answer the initial cries. He leaned towards the swirl of blue felt his lungs wrestle with every intake of air; it fought against the brine but his mind flooded with visions of a golden glow playing across the surface.

She tilted her head slightly, leaned towards him. There was something written in her face, some eerie light. He tried to read it but couldn't understand it. There was so much about her he couldn't understand. Like…like how did she find him so quickly?

"Hey!"

Sounds across the beach, shattering the morning air. Suddenly there were wild, animal cries, grating wails as he yanked away and looked up. A flush of white birds stormed across the sky, screaming in protest to the intrusion.

"Hey you two! Get off the beach! Don't you know any better-"

Something grabbed him by the arm and tugged at him; he rose to his feet, then stumbled in the sand as the girl yanked him away, dragging him down the coast, parallel to the rippling sea.

"Oh crap, someone saw, someone saw!" he heard her half-shout as they ran stumbling through the deep sand.

"Saw what?" he demanded, his breath driven out of him with every jolting step he took. He nearly fell when his legs became caught in the long folds of the coat; he cursed and righted himself while she tugged him onward.

"Oh my god, we have to hide, we have to hide," she muttered, slowing down slightly and looking right and left.

"Why are you panicking?" he asked, jogging behind her, wincing at the iron grip she had on his arm.

"Why do you _think_ I'm panicking?" she snapped, whipping her head to him. "What are people going to say when they see me here with you? You know about Sora so get your head straight. We have to hide-"

"What about those islands over there?" he asked, pointing out to the sea and across to the islands. "What do you think about that place?"

"The islands?" she murmured, now coming to a complete stop. He collided with her, hadn't been watching where he was going when she stopped, and they nearly fell. She was stronger and quicker than he thought, though, and had stopped the fall by wrapping her arms around his waist and propping her feet against the force.

"Yeah…over there…" he confirmed breathlessly. He looked at her then, and asked, "Can you…stop touching me?"

"What?"

"Me. You're touching me." He pointed desperately to his waist. She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly a bit mischievous.

"You're one of those people, aren't you? The touchy type who like their own personal space a bit too much."

"Look, the islands, can we get there?"

"This early in the morning?"

"Where else are we supposed to go?" he asked desperately, now quite tired and in frantic need of rest. "C'mon, Princess, tell me!"

She did pull away then and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he beheld the fury on her face and took a step back.

"How do you know that?" she hissed, marching up to him. She grabbed the dangling metal bits at the neck of the coat and jerked his head down to her level. "How close are you to Sora, anyways? He never told me anything about the likes of you!"

"Princess, you know nothing of what's going on," he returned coldly. "Let go."

"No."

"I said-"

"I told you, no tomfoolery on the beach! I'm sure you know better than that, Miss-"

The redhead gasped, tore away and down the beach. Zexion watched her go, the back of her shrink as she continued down the beach. Then she swerved inward and disappeared deep into town. Then he quickly turned to the source of the voice, spotted a middle-aged man gamboling towards him through the deep sand, and decided he needed to make his exit. Fast.

Liquid black smoke bloomed from the air and he quickly stepped through the portal-

-and found himself on the beach again. Zexion heard himself curse again – AGAIN – but what was he to do? He just randomly opened up a portal to get away from that man as fast as possible and here he was now, back on the – wait a minute. Zexion took a step closer to the smelly waters and narrowed his eyes. Was it just him or was that the man all the way across the waters on that beach over there, standing there looking as bewildered as ever?

Then Zexion turned around, stared up at the monstrous trees that created the backbone of the offshore islands, and swore again.

**Author's Endnote:** I don't know what the chapter title means. I don't think you do either. Like? No like? Review, please. Thanks.


	3. Between Mind & Heart

**Author's Note:** Well this story's got a better-than-expected reception. I'm surprised. Wonder what demented crack I should tackle next…

**Copyrights:** Characters, settings, and back story belong to Square-Enix and Disney. This itty-bitty mini-storyline is mine. The title isn't, if my information's right. Has nothing to do with the song. Same with the chapter title. Cheers!

**Disclaimer:** It could be my fault Castle Oblivion happened the way it did. I told the Superior that my mission failed, easy as it was. After all, Naminé erased the truth.

**Lights and Sounds**

**3 – Between Mind & Heart**

Zexion avoided the close-knit group of teenagers that came ashore using boats. He hid away from them all day, using the shadows of the monstrous trees as his cover. He found the best place in a secret cave that went deep under the largest tree but he didn't stay there long. There was a strange tingly feeling that ran through his limbs when he tried to explore deeper and he smelled something ancient and utterly powerful. Something potentially dangerous reeked in this dank dark place and he decided not to stay there for long. Instead, he stuck near the entrance, which was already covered in shadows of plants, and observed the three children laughing and playing in the white surf. He resisted the urge to crinkle his nose at the smell of salt and wondered why these people enjoyed seawater so much.

He saw her, too, the Princess of Heart. She was standing apart from them, her feet planted firmly in the sand near the waves. She was staring across the sea, perhaps towards the land, but there was an itching feeling, an aching deep inside his body, that told him this was not so. He had a strange, peculiar feeling that he had awoken something in her, something she hadn't thought of in many days. Her body language spoke it plainly.

She must be thinking about the Keyblade Wielder. Sora.

She was upset as she demanded to know why he appeared in her room looking like Sora. She was angry, angry because she couldn't understand why Zexion could do that to her. He couldn't understand why she was so angry, so mad. Maybe he could. Who wouldn't be mad, he decided, to think the person walking down the street was that person, only to find out it was actually somebody else? Guises. That's what threw her off. He was disguised as someone she was…close to.

The next thing flying at him was regret. It overtook and swallowed him so quickly, so abruptly, he couldn't muster a defense. He knew this was regret. Regret was wishing he had done something different. Regret was wondering how things could have been different if he did something else.

But why would he want to think about that? Things happened the way they did and it wasn't his fault he failed his mission so miserably. Why was he wondering about the 'what if' of things? Why did he have to worry? What was there to worry? But then he kept his eyes fixed on her, and suddenly understood that it was her, the Princess of Heart. She was working magic on him again, he decided. But was this magic? What was magic that one couldn't see, one couldn't touch, one couldn't…smell? He could feel it but that was all. Or was it?

Sunset. The three boisterous teenagers on the beach were heading home in their boats. Zexion sighed, turned away, and leaned against the great root of the tree. He tilted his head back and looked up at the darkening firmament. There was a star winking at him. He tilted his head slightly but the star remained hanging in the nothingness, shining. And…there was another star, tiny at first but glowing stronger and stronger. The flush of rosy dark red was vanishing. Night was falling, his domain.

Should he go back and try to convince the Princess of Heart to follow him as honestly as possible? Or…or should he use force? Or should he just leave her and go back to Castle Oblivion, tell the Superior he failed?

"I knew you'd be there," he heard, a soft whisper in the night, and he jumped up and away from the root of the tree. He staggered, stumbled in the dark, and suddenly the solid footing under his boots gave way. Zexion tumbled into a depression and sputtered at the cold water splashing all over his head. He was sitting in at least two feet of cold water, but at least it didn't smell like brine.

"You're easy to surprise, aren't you?" she said, amusement ringing in her voice.

"No, I just wasn't expecting it," he returned coldly. He was embarrassed; the night was his domain and she had spooked him into falling into a pool of water. He rubbed water from his face but his dripping hair clung to the cold skin. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you go back home?"

He thought he could see an outline of a small slender person, a shrug. "I knew you were here. I waited until the others left to find you. Why didn't you go back to wherever you came from? Why are you still here?"

The questions came like shot arrows in the dark. They stabbed into him, pinned him to the spot. Zexion opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "I-I don't know…"

There was a sigh, long and low. "Here. Since I 'scared' you into the pool, I'll help you out. Take my hand."

Zexion considered it for a moment, watched as the Princess of Heart leaned over the ledge. He could see her hand in the faint moonlight but most of her was in shadows.

"Hey, you there?"

He should go back to Castle Oblivion. There was no way he was going to bring her with him; he was certain of that now. There was still the way of brute force, but that wasn't Zexion. He doubted he could carry that façade of strength for long. And, he realized, he didn't want to bring her with him. He didn't want her at Castle Oblivion, hovering within its blinding white confines as a ghost and a puppet, to be manipulated at will. Already he knew too much of her. If she were to look upon the Keyblade Wielder in that manner, if he were to find her in this way, she would self-destruct and be no more. He knew he shouldn't care, that she was only a tool, but…he did care.

Maybe too much.

"You really want to sit in that water for the rest of the night? Is that your idea of a good night's sleep or something? I can't stay here for long; I have to go home."

Maybe…strangely…the human side, the shadow of his real self, was coming back to haunt him. There was a soft strange humming in the back of his mind, attuning itself to her. Her voice was causing something to twist in him, but it was a sensation he was able to recall. He realized it happened the first time, when he first crept into her room and saw her stir in her sleep. Was the shadow awake then? Was it ordering his empty body in a fashion his current state of mind couldn't comprehend?

And then it came, the shadow rushing up and taking him.

"Is something bothering-whoa!"

He reached out and his hand found hers. Zexion pulled her towards him, heard-felt her stumble into the pool, and dragged her to him. She sputtered, protested, then yelped as he heard the water pour on her from above. Then he felt her body press against his wet coat, and let go of her hand. She splashed about, unable to understand what had just happened, but he knew, he knew all right. He tugged at his gloves, fought the wet clingy material, and pulled them off with much difficulty. He threw them aside, then sought her face. His cold fingers skimmed the wet hot skin of the person pressing against him, then he found her face, the silky softness of skin, and the shadow of Ienzo overwhelmed him.

He kissed her.

Zexion froze then. His ears were filled with the constant splash and ripple of the waterfall. It was a constant and yet the nuances, the ebb and flow of sound, pulsed in his ear. Alive. The water was alive.

He felt her, her wet skin against his, slipping and sliding yet locked in place. She had stopped struggling the moment his lips met hers, and he felt a shudder rush through her. She stopped moving, protesting, struggling, fighting him. She had frozen stiff.

Then, slowly the life rushed into him. He didn't know its source, couldn't decide between the Princess of Heart and his shadow. Then he became aware of a slight pressure on his mouth, realized it was her. She was deepening the sudden kiss in a way he couldn't possibly imagine. And yet…it felt so incredibly strange, so eerie, so surreal. She pressed against him, soaking wet, pressing forward where he had stopped. Slowly his hands slid from her face and dropped into the cool waters, then touched her slick arms. Then her shoulders. Then down her back. He could feel her spine through the drenched fabric of her dress, and a living heat. And somewhere, deep within his mind, came an answer, a call, a yearning for that same warmth.

A cry for a heart, just like hers. A chance to be Ienzo again.

Her lips moved against his mouth. Water splattered on them, made them feel slick and cool. It sent a shiver up and down his spine. It was utterly foreign to him…and magical.

_This_ was magic. Her magic, and nobody else's. Ever.

Her lips slid away and she stared at him, breathing hard, soaking, and confused as ever. He knew he shared the same confusion and that she could see it in his face.

"What…what…" she gasped, unable to breathe normally. She was heaving, out of breath, and all that had happened between them was a deep and penetrating kiss. He could taste her, something languid, stunningly bittersweet, and hot. He wanted it to stay, whatever it was.

He sat up a little straighter, his one eye fixed on her. Her voice fell away, her breath mingling with the waterfall. Her eyes were brilliant, shining despite the lack of light. The moon and the stars were enough. A light shone in them, a light he had erased from himself long ago, had denied in order to dwell in darkness and shadows.

That same light beckoned to him now.

She tilted her head slightly, her hair streaming over her forehead. Her eyes were half-closed yet her eyes remained as studious and aware as ever. Aware even as he gently pressed his lips against hers and a thrill rushed through his body. He tasted the wetness, opened his mouth a little more to engulf it. Then he kissed the corner of her mouth, her slick jaw line. He could smell her damp hair. It exuded that bizarre scent he had found what seemed like eons ago on the other side of the sea. The shadow in his mind curled around it, seeking to be one with it.

He felt something cool and warm press softly against the side of his face, where the flesh stretched over bone and no fat remained as cushion. She slid her fingers down to his jaw, stroke the bone. Then her hand was moving down and over his neck. He wondered at the heat she brought to wherever she touched, wonder how he felt. Was he colder than she imagined him to be…or hotter than he thought possible?

"…wait…" she murmured as they rested their faces next to each other. She pressed her body against his, their bodies heaving, breathing, as one. His bare hand was stroking her streaming hair; her fingers curled as her hand rested against his chest. They sat there in the pool, the waterfall still flowing freely, as night stood watching over them. She pressed the side of her face against his shoulder, looked at him.

"I…I'm sorry," he said. Ienzo was sinking back into the darkness of faint memories. "This should have never happened…"

"It happened," the Princess whispered. "Despite everything I promised…"

Silence. The water was rippling softly, its lowly waves lapping against them while yards beyond the sea rolled onto the shore and back into itself.

"It…never happened," Zexion said softly, too spent to speak in his normal tones. "Soon…sooner or later…this will have never happened and I was never here. You…you will forget…and your soul…your body…your heart…will be focused. Focused on him."

"Sora," she murmured. He felt her press against him even more. "But…how can I forget? It happened…how can I forget it ever happened?"

"You'll see…Princess," he replied. Ienzo was a hazy shadow, barely there. "One day…you will wake up and you will have forgotten I ever came into your room. You will have forgotten I looked like Sora the first time you saw me, forgotten finding me at the beach, forgotten waiting to seek me out here, forgotten what had just transpired between us. Because none of this was supposed to happen, it never did. You'll forget…because you'll never see me again."

"Then…" She sounded resigned, not utterly tragic. "Then…this is all but a dream."

"Lights and sounds. Smells and touch. Taste. They can ascertain what is truth and what is lies but only memory will prove its worth in the long run. Your memory will forget, and soon after so will your senses. It is inevitable, Princess. You and I never met."

"If you must…" she said softly. Defeat left its traces in her voice. She shifted, slowly pulled away from him. She slid to his side, sat down in the cool water, and looked at him. He hadn't really moved at all.

"Are you going to go?"

He looked at her, at the moonlight illuminating her. Then Ienzo whispered a word so missing in his vocabulary, so far gone his voice could never work it into his mouth.

She was beautiful.

"I must," he finally answered, once the revelation broke over him and the growing weight in the emptiness drifted away. He rose to his feet, dripping, droplets of water rippling against the stronger tides of the waterfall. He looked at the Princess, said, "They are waiting for me. I must go back. I will tell them I have failed. They will know nothing of what has transpired."

Ienzo had fallen asleep again. Zexion had returned.

She smiled as he tentatively held out a hand to her. She grasped it, her fingers locking around his palm and away from the slick wetness. He heaved her to her feet but she pressed herself to him and kissed him fiercely, pushing him under the waterfall. It poured all around them as she forced his mouth open and dove in. The shock wore off and he fought back with a fury he didn't know was in him. He wrested control away from her and forced her against the wall, the waterfall still falling on them. Then almost immediately the violence stopped. They stood there, frozen, her arms wrapped around his neck, their lips locked together. Then, slowly and with great care, he pulled away. Her arms slid off as he took a step back. She followed him, through the waterfall and through the pool. Then she did nothing, watched rather serenely as he bent over and sought his gloves. He fished them out, wrung them, forced his clammy wet hands back into them. He resisted the want to touch her again, and feel the living heat the shadow inside him craved.

It was over. Zexion's mission was long over but the conclusion was still being drawn. He would end it all.

He stepped out of the pool and onto sand. She followed him; he could smell her as he slowly wove his way down to the beach. There he stood, his one visible eye fixed on the far horizon. She stood next to him, and he looked at her briefly. There was an expression of longing on her face, and he felt moved to say, "Don't worry. One day, you and he will meet again."

He waited long enough for her to say, "I hope so," before he opened a portal and stepped in. He never looked back. He didn't need to. Zexion's mission was done. He had failed to reel in the Princess of Heart. The Organization will have to deal with Sora using only Naminé. She will shatter his memories, and those of all connected to him.

Including the Princess of Heart.

xxx

"Kairi…?"

She stood in the beach, staring across to a cluster of offshore islands, basking in the hues of twilight. Then she stepped forward, ignored the sand as her school shoes sank into it. A few more steps and she stood on wet sand where the water rushed up and melted away. She put her school bag down, then reached in and pulled out a bottle. Within was a piece of paper, carefully scrolled up and sealed inside. She looked at the bottle, cradled it, then knelt down and as the next wave came frothing in, she let the bottle go. The ocean swept it up, carried it away from the land and human hands, and out to sea, to cast it adrift so it may wander as it will.

"What's that?" the young brunette asked, kneeling down next to the redhead, mindful of her plaid skirt touching the damp sand.

"A letter…I wrote it yesterday, to the boy I can't remember," Kairi said softly, with a soft nostalgic smile on her face. "I said that no matter where he is…I'll find him. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remembered we made a promise, something important. This letter is where it starts. I know it."

The girl next to her widened her green eyes in awe. Romantic hues painted her face. "Wow…I hope he gets it."

There was no doubt in her heart that the bottle will find its way to him. She was sure of it.

"He will."

Selphie nodded as Kairi brushed back a strand of red hair and watched the bottle shrink into the distance, swallowed by the sea.

"Starts with an "S". Right, Sora?"

**Author's Endnote:** And so it ends on a Sokairi note. Bet you didn't expect that! Questions? Comments? Review and thank you. Not bad for a Zexion x Kairi, eh?


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